Rudolf eiokemeyer



' (No Model.)

R. EIGKEMEYER.

HAT STRETGHING MACHINE,

No. 269,031. Patented Dec. 12, 1882.

-UNITED STATES RUDOLF EIOKEMEYER, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

-HAT-STRETCH|NG MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 269,031, dated December 12, 1882, Application filed September 23, 1882. '(No modeLl To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RUnoLF EIOKEMEYER,

of Yonkers, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hat-Stretching Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forminga part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of the'several features of myinvention.

My said improvements relate to that class of machines which embody radial tipstretching fingers co-operating with a ribbed former for developing the lips and squares of hats on the corrugation principle. The particular type of tip-stretching fingers to which I have applied said improvements, as hereinafter par -ticularly described, constitutes the subject of Letters Patent issued to me July 15, 1873, No. 140,903, and the machine hereinafter described, upon which I have practically employed said improvements, embodies other inventions heretofore patented to me, and constitutes the subject of Letters Patent issued to me April 11, 1882, No. 256,203, and reference may behad to both of said Letters Patent, if need be, for a full comprehension of those parts of the machine shown in the drawings which do not containthe subject of my present invention.

The prime object of my present invention is to safely facilitate or expedite the stretching of hat-bodies in developing tips and squares, and especially in such automatic machinesas are shown in my said Letters Patent No.. 256,203. The tip-stretching fingers referred to are rendered adjustable by means of a handwheel nut, which raises or lowers the outer ends of the fingers, and thereby expands or shown in my said prior Letters Patent.

contracts them ,with. reference to a center which is common to them all, said fingers being provided with pivots at their inner ends, which are located in one horizontal plane, as I still retain the rotative wheel-nut for effecting the main angular adjustment of the tip-stretching fingers; but instead of relying wholly upon a hand operation for obtaining such variation 'it is now partially performed automatically.

This automatic operation may be accomplished by means-of intermittingly-operated gearing coupled tosaidwheel-nut;- but while that would be within a certain portion of my invention it would involve much complex mechanism, and I have therefore devised and disclosed simpler mechanism, by which the angular adjustment of said fingers is accomplished by the vertical movement of the hand-wheel without rotating it. In other words,instead of having thehaudwheel nut mounted directly upon a threaded spindle, I mount it upona threaded sleeve, which incloses and can be freely reciprocated upon said spindle and maintained in operation at any desired elevation thereon, and this particular method of mounting the tip-stretching fingers with relation to their spindle by means of a sleeve which is loosely fitted to the spindle,-and to which the outerends of the fingers are coupled, is of value even if applied to the machines shown in my Letters Patent No. 140,903, whether operated by hand or foot, because with the outer ends of the fingers supported by links depending from a stationary sleeve at the end of a fixed bracket, and the inner ends of said fingers supported upon a spindle which is vertically adjustable with relation to said sleeve, the angular adjustment of said fingers "can be effected without raising or lowering their outer ends at the pivotal connections with their pendent links.

As an important result of my present improvements,organized as hereinafterdescribed, a hat-body is automatically first stretched at the square, where most of the stretching is required, and thereafter the tip is gradually stretched from the squareinwardly toward and to the center of the tip. I

In order to more fully describe my invention, I will refer to the drawings, and after a detailed description of the mechanism therein illustrated the features deemed novel will be specified in nexed. v I

Figure l is a vertical central section of an automatic hat-stretching machine embodying my present improvements, and aside from said improvements this figure is substantially the same as Fig.1 of the drawings contained in my Letters Patent No. 256,203. Fig. 2 is a detached view of the upper portion of the machine, illustrating the position ofthe parts at the commencement of the stretching operation for comparison with Fig. 1, which shows said parts as if at or near the completion thereof.

The frame of the machine is composed of side plates, A, and horizontal plates A, A and Ai, asheretofore. The stretching'fingers B are rapidly reciprocated, and the ribbed former C is slowly raised and lowered, as in my prior machines.

In my Letters Patent No. 140,903 I show the stretching-finger spindle fixedly mounted in a fixed portion of the machine, and in Letters Patent No. 256,203 it is fixedly mounted in a vertically-reciprocating cross-head. In both cases referred to the spindle was threaded and provided with a hand-wheel nut, by means of which the fingers as a whole could be spread or contracted by a simultaneous movement of their outer ends. In my'present machine the stretching-finger spindle b is fixed in the vertically reciprocating cross head a, and although said fingers at their inner ends are pivoted to said spindle, as heretofore, and their outer ends supported by Way of the links and hand-wheel nut c, it will be seen that said nut, instead of engaging with the spindle, is mounted upon a threaded sleeve, 0?, which loosely incloses and slides upon the spindle. The sleeve d is in' turn supported by the reciprocating cross-head a by means of the bell-crank lever e and pendent link f, which, at its upper end, is pivoted to the cross-head. It will therefore be obvious-that if the lower end of the bellcrank lever e be moved in or out, whether by hand orautomatically,ashereinafterdescribed, the angular position of the stretching-fingers can be varied. Inasmuch as the said bellcra-nk lever reciprocates vertically with the cross-head a and with the stretching-fingers, it is obvious that whatever means might be applied for moving the lower end of said lever in and out they must admit of said vertical movement-as, for instance, if to be adjusted or moved by hand a horizontal handslide would be provided, having a slot in which the lower end of said lever could vertically reciprocate; but for the automatic operation I pivot the lower end of the bell-crank lever to a second bell-crank lever, g, by a link, 6, which freely permits said vertical reciprocating movement. The bell-crank lever g has a long curved slotted lower arm, which is connected by a link, h, to the outer end of a camlever, '5, having at its inner end a wheel or roll which bears upon a cam, 7c, mounted upon a slowly-rotatingshaft, which also actuates other portions of the machine.

As thus far described, it will be readily seen that with the bell-crank lever e in the position indicated in Fig. 2 the outer ends of the fingers are depressed, and therefore that they will first operate for developing the square of the hat-body, and that as the cam revolves said fingers will be gradually expanded or raised at their outer ends until their inner portions will operate solely upon the tip of the hat-body, as indicated in Fig. 1, the ribbed former meantime gradually rising, as in my prior machine. The extent of movement thus imparted to thevouter ends of the fingers can be predetermined and varied to suit requirements by means of an adjustable link-connection-i. 0., by changing-the location of the pivot of link h in the curved slot of lever g, a clamp-nut being provided upon said pivot for that purpose.

I have heretofore provided for automatically varying the angular position of brim-stretching fingers during the stretching operation, as is fully shown and described in Letters Patent No. 256,305, issued to me April 11, 1882; but thisfeature of automatically varying the angular position of the tip-stretching fingers is broadly new, and as hereinafter indicated.

I am well aware'that by the use of more complete mechanism the wheel-nut 0 can be automatically rotated to and fro, and thereby cause the same variations in the angular positions of said fingers; and although 1 have devised the simple and effective mechanism describedt'or that purpose I do not limit myself thereto, except as specifically indicatedin my claims.

It is obvious that the mechanism for automatically varying the angular position of the fingers may be successfully and profitably employed in a machine otherwise operated by hand or foot, and whether the fingers be vertically reciprocated, as described, or whether their spindle remains at a fixed elevation, as in certain of my prior machines.

With the stretching-fingers, as shown, the

wheel-11 at 0 is used, as heretofore, for adjusting them for working upon crowns of various sizes, and it is obvious that, regardless of the position of said wheel-nut upon the threaded sleeve, the extent of variation in the position of the fingers during the stretching operation will be the same, and dependent solely upon the particular location of the adjustable link-connection.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination, with the tip-stretching fingers and the spindle, at the lower end of which the inner ends of said fingers are connected, of a sleeve which is loosely fitted to said spindle, and is coupled to the outer ends of said fingers, substantially as described.

2. In a hat-stretching machine, the combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, of a suitable former, tip-stretching fingers, and mechanism for automatically varying the angular position of said fingers during the stretching operation.

3. In a hat-stretching machine, the combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, of a suitable former, vertically-reciprocating tip-stretching fingers, and mechanism for automatically varying the angular position of said fingers during the stretching operation.

4. In a hat-stretching machine, the combination, substantially as hereinbefore described,

of a suitable former, the vertically-reciprocating tip-stretching fingers, mechanism for automatically varying the angular position of said fingers during the stretching operation, and an adjusting device for predetermining 269,031 y y a and varying extent of the variation in the potermediate levers, and links, of the adjustable sition of saidfingers, link-connection, substantially as desoribetl,f0r 1 5. The combination, with the tip-stretching varying the extent of movement of the outer fingers and their sliding sleeve, of the bellends of the stretohing-fingers.

5 crank levers, links, dam-lever, and rotating RUDOLF EIGKEMEYER, cam, substantially as described. Witnesses:

6. The combination, with the tip-stretching WM. H. DOPP,

fingers, their sliding sleeve, the cam and inl GEORGE NARR. 

